Biography, Art, and Facts - Vincent van Gogh - Report Example

Vincent Van Gogh Introduction Artistic work is one of the versatile industries that have grown tremendous leaders whose work is a reflection of personal values and emotions. Painting for instance, is often seen as a visual representation of artistic gift that brings out the artists external experience. However, it helps to understand the artists inner feelings as well as the experience. Many psychologists believe that through content analysis, of painting, one can get to understand more the artist. Vincent Van Gogh is one of the iconic artists who major work was painting. In his work, many interpreters noted that it was his experience in life that motivated him into painting. Van Background and Influence on Painting Van was born in 1853 in Groot-Zundert in Southern Netherlands, which was a predominantly catholic; he grew up with a striking attraction of painting and beauty. He was the son of Theodorus Gogh, a minister at the Dutch reformed church. He took his grandfathers name Vincent, whose work as an artist had been largely sculptor. As a young boy, he was a serious, thoughtful and silent, this astonished many children who grew together. Notably, art and religion were two greatest occupations in his lineage and some scholars have linked his artistic work in the family background and early exposure to the artistic world (Gogh and H 1875). He attended school at Zundert village from 1860s where a single catholic teacher taught more than 200 pupils. This was quite normal during this time when education was at its early stage if development in the Netherlands. Together with his sister, he moved to a boarding school in 1861 at Zevenbergen that was about 20 miles away from his home (Gogh and Colta 70). During his stay in school, he remained distress to be relocated away from the family members, and he began drawing and painting. In 1866, he joined a new middle school called Willem College in Tilburg. Perhaps this was the most influential turning point that influenced his career choice. During his studies, he encountered Constantine Huysmans, who was an artist, and he developed a conviction in the art. In addition, the teacher was instrumental in encapsulating a systematic approach to the subject in the school curriculum. Arguably, he grew up with the art as part of a career whose growth has transcended across generations. Notably, Van career had started way back as a child; he had started drawing, and this continued throughout school life. Eventually, it culminated into a conviction to pursue painting and drawing as a career. Surprisingly, he dropped out of school in 1868 in unclear circumstances and returned home to pursue painting. Some psychologists started interpreting his painting as an early manifestation of social disintegration and mind occasion disconnect. Evidently, in 1883 in a letter to Theo, he wrote, "my youth was gloomy, cold and sterile." The revelation helped the psychologist to explain why he had quite and thoughtful life. Moreover, it explains why he had disintegrated life that was manifested in his painting. He was helped by his uncle Cent to obtain a job at art dealer called Goupil & Cie at the Hague. He underwent a vigorous training until 1873. He later transferred to London, where he lodged at Hackford Road, Buxton and worked alongside Messrs (Gogh and Ann 144). As he noted later now in his books," this was the happiest moment in my life." As an artist, the school curriculum had significantly impaired his approach to life. In his mind, he had envisioned using art as a career, and hand skills were his greatest motivation. Notably, it was during the work experience in London that his dream became more vibrant and full of life. Unlike the solitude and home hangovers, he experienced in earlier school life, in an artistic firm far from home he felt happy and accomplished. Surprisingly, during his stay in London he fell in love with a landlady called Eugene Lawyer who rejected him since she was engaged. Later in life, the experience would be blamed for his mind instability and psychotic problem. With years away from home, he became fervent with religion, and he started feeling isolated. As a result, his father and uncle organized for his transfer to Paris. On April 1st, 1887 the company he had worked for terminated his employment. His stay with his brother Theo in French capital became one of the most influential points in his painting career. After he had worked in 1879 as an unsuccessful evangelical missionary, the tour in Paris made an impression in his career since he got attracted to impressionism and post impression errors (Gogh and H 1876). In addition, the great paintings of George Seurat and his greatest painting technique called "Pointillism" influenced Vans artistic career immensely. The use of colors in his paintings began to brighten in a spectacular manner, and he was now more defined. Within the next two years, he made a dramatic over 200 paintings (Gogh and Ann 139). The fundamental purpose of his early works depicted the hard lives among the Dutch peasants. In addition, he depicted great respect in his work for their humility, dignity and unwavering commitment in their hard work. One of the most memorable moments in his life was the 1888 stay at Arles colony with his friend Paul Gauguin, a painter (Gogh and Colta 79). They developed an initial positive working relating and worked on several separate paintings. The full force of his work is evident at the Arles paintings. Most significantly, his personality totally clashed with his colleague. As a result, he attacked his friend during one of their quarrels, many psychologists believe that the reality of this event; led to his self-ear lobe amputation. At Arles, he employs the use of colors to display a powerful emotional disturbance. The interpretations of colors explain the exaggerated coloring of the paintings as a clear manifestation of deterioration of interpersonal relations. In addition, he develops ability to use color intensively to create a textured surface as a show of greater sensitivity. It was during this period that culminated in the energetic brushstrokes of the Van Goghs painting and artistic career. In 1889, he suffered an increasing depression and emotional disturbance leading to hospitalization at St. Remy, near Arles. One of the important paintings he did during his medication was the "Starry Night" in 1889 that showed a dark background with signs of the setting sun (Gogh and Colta 72). The interpretation of this particular painting was clear. It corresponded to increase in an emotive power as his career and brushwork became dull and inevitably convulsive. His life was greatly jeopardized by tumultuous episodes of depressions. As a result, he moved to Auvers-Sur-Oise near the Ravoux Inn, where his brother was staying. On Sunday 29 July, 1890 he shot himself in the chest and succumbed two days later. Vans Artistic Work and Aesthetics Notably, the early works he saw in Paris that included pointillism is a key concept that greatly shaped his artistic works. Pointillism refers to a systematic use of dots of unmixed colors that often fuse to make subtle hues. This kind of painting impressed Van because of its spectacular clarity of the images, however, his attempt to master the art was clumsy. However, the motivation drove him to a wide experimental painting and aesthetics that later shaped his aesthetic value. There are over a thousand paintings that he did displaying personal values and feelings about issues and people. His solitude and social isolation gave him time to reflect on others and events (Gogh and Ann 149). With his myriad self-portraits, he heavily used colors to display his emotional disconnect and somber mood he lived throughout his life. Additionally, Van embarked on painting and aesthetics career through designing self-portraits that remain alive to date. Firstly, "The Potato Eaters" painting of 1885 is perhaps the most defining moment of his astute artistic creativity. In the painting, he produced a masterwork that would later lay foundation in establishing his painting career. The painting portrayed multiple figures, and the greatest attribute of this masterpiece was the ability to display the five key figures as natural as they could have been in a photograph. The striking talent is the clarity artistic painting with uttermost precision. In his letter to Theo 1885, he describes his purpose as an aesthetic approach in painting that uses a multiplicity of components such as a lamp to project artificial light on images. In addition, he noted "I wanted to show that people eating potatoes by the light of an oil lamp used the same hands to toil in their farms" (Gogh and H 1876). As an important concept, his work identified the key hygiene issue that was bedeviling the Dutch peasant farmers. In his artistic work, he worked on paintings and drew images that displayed real issues that were affecting people. He envisioned maintaining well-choreographed attire, lighting and magnification of painting that would evoke a vivid image and through interpretation a clear meaning would be eked from the works. Moreover, his aesthetic clarity and artistic work were well manifested in his 1887 (oil on canvas) self-portrait. In this particular portrait, he confidently controlled the color coding, kept the tone of facial expression different from the traditional portraits. It created an array of realistic use of yellow, orange and lilac color combination with sky blue and green brush-strokes. Notably, he harnessed his great control of brush-stroke into a systematic rhythm, controlled the size and direction of the brush work. With aesthetic value or his painting, he designed an outward radiation of blue, orange aura that formed an outer ring from his eyes. By 1887, his career was at its peak, and the painting is a clear manifestation of the artistic gift of the booming painting (Goh and Ingo 67). In addition, a stay in Paris, he interacted with ‘ukiyo-e" woodblocks prints that helped shaped his painting career. Following his 1885 breakthrough, he went to Antwerp where he decorated the walls of his studio with bright colors. Some of his work in France helped him expand his career to the mass media display (Gogh and Colta 78). In 1888, he painted "Plum Tree in Blossom" as a vivid illustration of how he valued all the prints he collected (Gogh and Colta 79). Besides, his artistic energy focused beyond existing cultural paintings, and he did a number of friends portraits. As he settled in French capital, he noted that people had a great sense of togetherness and friendship ties were immense. The strength observation as he would explain later informed the Friends and Acquaintances painting and still-life drawings. Notably, his career was shaped significantly by what he observed, and drawing and painting was not only his art, but also a way of preserving memorable observations he made in his journey across Europe. The Emotional Impact of Color The 1887 stay at Arley perhaps reflects mostly on the artistic value that Van placed in every dimension of life. Unlike the traditional role of painting that was mainly a contest of displaying beauty, he introduced an emotional painting that depicted his conflict with Paul. Evidently, his self-portrait with a Bandaged Ear of 1887 uses color to create a deep emotional disturbance that reflected his great turmoil in depression and distress (Gogh and H 1875). The painting employs dull green colors in the attire demonstrating an in-depth of emotional disturbance that saw him break down leading to a fight with a friend he had constantly quarreled. Painted two weeks after the awful breakdown, the image shows a significantly lit face that shows renewed energy and enthusiasm after walking through the breakdown in agony. Despite having any incidences in gloomy and somber mood, he had a significant number of bright moments that were characterized by elevated mood. His personal experience in mood swing and emotional instability significantly influenced his painting and choice of dull colors helped him share his experience in painting (Gogh and Ingo 34). In instances of elated mood, he used bright colors and simplified paintings. The bright colored paintings he did in London were clear manifestations of artistic skills that were largely dictated by surrounding circumstances. Conclusion The life and times of Van is a living testimony of the growth of the painting during the 19th century. It was a period that saw him crisscross Europe in pursuit to find a path in a career as an artist with a special focus on painting. In his artistic journey, he encountered great mentors who helped direct his ambition towards painting. Besides, his personal behavior from childhood that was characterized by withdrawal from others and solitude shaped his ideas in painting. Furthermore, he advanced the art to include a display of emotional experience and life events, unlike the traditional painting that focused on displaying beauty and powerful leaders. His artistic work is excellent; his diverse growth of experience ranging from the Netherlands, Italy, France and Britain were the greatest influence in his painting. Notably, the Arles stay with Paul although chaotic, helped him defined his painting and drawing career. Works Cited Gogh, Vincent van, and Colta Feller Ives. Vincent van Gogh: the drawings. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art ;, 2005. Print. Gogh, Vincent van, and Ann Dumas. The real Van Gogh: the artist and his letters. London: Royal Academy of Arts ;, 2010. Print. Gogh, Vincent van, and H. Anna Suh. Van Goghs letters: the mind of the artist in paintings, drawings and words, 1875-1890. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2010. Print. Gogh, Vincent van, and Ingo F. Walther. Vincent van Gogh: the complete paintings. Köln: Taschen, 2012. Print. Read More